Hi Shapeways,
I am having a tough time getting my 3d textured model uploaded on the site and I would like some help.

Basically, I want to print in full-color sandstone a flat 3mm thick part (30mm x 40,5mm) with an image on the top side.

The image is a 16-bit version of the character Link and I want that image to be 3mm thick, but without the gray section
(I have attached the image with my .wrl file). I want a flat "figurine" of link in full-color sandstone, but I was using Solidworks
and couldn't seem to get the image fixed on the top suface of my part. I have then tried drawing it in google sketch up then exporting it
to meshlab following the steps to this tutorial:

There sure was a problem. When that tutorial enters the part about converting to a wrl with meshlab, horrors can occur. Post a Sketchup file of it., I will fix it up for you. Or you can try to convert it to x3d

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.

1 - too small. scaling up by x1000 might work for Frosted Ultra Detail at 0.3mm thickness - check your sizes and measurement units.
2 - image file path within the wrl file - the image filename within the wrl file should be just the image file name without the folder path, i.e. colur.jpg rather than My Douments/colulr.jpg - a manual fix is easy enough with a text editor such as wordpad.

Fixed file attached - you will need to scale this for the print to work in FCS

To answer your question about extruding images. There is a technique to export a path in a format called .svg. Basically in a image editor open the image file,select the grey area. Inverse select, turn selection to a path, export path as a svg. When you import the svg you will get a closed curve , in your case.
Gimp can do it, its free, might need to read a tut on it.

Your last image was created in SU, 30 mm x 40.5 mm x 3mm dimensions. If you had scaled it by .001 the scaling would have been fine. Would have been scaled to the dimensions of .030 mm x .0405 mm x .003mm.. Considering when you uploaded, set upload value to m, the model gets rescaled by 1000 with the vrml weirdness, results are 30mm x 40.5 mm x 3mm for the print.

This usually works, except you used SU, which basic measuring units are in a percentage of inches. Soooo, if you export it as a wrl, dimensions in basic units will be 1.181 x 1.5984 x .188. So now for a vmrl, you have to scale it by 25.4, then follow the instructions above,

Its a pain, but so is regular modelling. But holding the finished product you designed is worth it.

Keith

[Updated on: Thu, 13 December 2012 18:39 UTC]

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.

Looked at the SKP file. Seems you put a asphalt texture on it first, then added Link's image on the same face. This is called overlapping uv maps which Sw's printer gets confused, thus it does not get printed. It is similar to a layered texture. Exported it as a .dae, from SU, looked good. All the normals were oriented correctly.
You are still going to have to scale it,and since it was made in SU, not by .001, but .0254. SU converts mm and cm measurement values you model with as a percentage of an inch. So a model with a length you assign in the program at 25.4 would have a basic unit length of 1. Your models designed dimensions were cm 3 x 4.05 x .3. SU bounding box dimensions were inch 1.181 x 1.594 x .118. The latter dimensions are what SW uses when you choose the upload units. So now just scale your model by 25.4, then by .001, or just .0254 for a wrl since SW regards your basic unit as a meter. Now the basic units are in a percentage of a meter. Upload as a meter for a wrl or any file formats SW allows you to upload for color printing.
If you just want to upload a stl in this case, scale by 25.4, upload mm.

Keith

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.

There's nothing wrong with the normals (using your orignal zipped vrml), the scale was off and the image filepath wasn't trncated to just the filename. For some reason the edge colours aren't spot on but it looks like that is just a matter of stretching the image outwards of the bottom right followed by cropping the image to the original size.

Lols it is fine. Shapeways will rotate the model, giving bounding box dimensions that will not sometimes match the dimensions you modeled. The volume being the same is what counts. You can experiment with this in a modeling program which can display a model as bounding box.
By the way, thanks for posting. I learned some good stuff in SU about texture positioning, and the Meshlab wrl texture fix. Helping another always improves your knowledge.
Watch out you might get into trouble trying to sell your model, copy write infringements. But on the good side, with a little extra modelling you could turn it into a pendant.

Keith

PS thanks to Paul for a coherant explanation of the wrl fix in the file. The SW tut needs some tinkering with.Hint,hint.

[Updated on: Thu, 13 December 2012 22:18 UTC]

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.